New year sweeps in across the world

New Year’s Eve celebrations in Times Square, New York (Andres Kudacki/AP)

New Year’s celebrations have swept across the globe, ushering in 2023 with countdowns and fireworks – and marking an end to a year that brought war in Europe, a new chapter in the British monarchy and global worries over inflation.

The new year began in the tiny atoll nation of Kiribati in the central Pacific, then moved across Russia and New Zealand before heading deeper, time zone by time zone, through Asia and Europe and into the Americas.